Pablo Picasso had a quote: “Good artists copy, great artists steal”.
Steve Jobs used that when describing the success of Apple. You “borrow’ from others, and put your own spin on it until people think it’s original and all yours.
For example:
My son is really into a cartoon called Gravity Falls right now, and a lot of his classmates are too.
It’s about a place nestled in a forest in the northwestern United States that has odd townspeople and strange things happening. The main characters are trying to find out what the heck is going on there, while battling a powerful entity called “Bill Cipher”.
When I was watching the show with Gray the other day, I thought to myself: “This seems a lot like Twin Peaks, for kids”
Twin Peaks also had odd townspeople, strange things happening, and main characters trying to stop a powerful entity (except that one was named “BOB”).
After checking with trusty Google, I read that the show’s creator took inspiration from Twin Peaks and worked a number of references from it into his show.
Everything borrows from something that came before it. It’s that way with tv shows, movies, books, and yes … coaching businesses.
Most successful coaches out there – the ones with the big followings and buzz – borrow from others, but put their own spin on it.
I know a coach who’s built a great business helping people with their goal-setting and productivity. He has a quirky personality, curses like a sailor (every second word is the F-bomb), and jokes around with his tribe a lot.
Some of what he teaches could be compared to productivity “gurus” like Brian Tracy (Eat That Frog!), but he put his own spin on productivity and he’s helping a lot of people. Good for him …
Other coaches are doing the same thing by putting their take on things they learned from Tony Robbins, John Maxwell, Les Brown, Wayne Dyer and Napoleon Hill.
And those greats did the exact same thing with people who came before them.
Nothing is truly original.
There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from others, just make sure you’re different enough that you don’t come across as a carbon copy rip-off.
I’m not the first person to have an ink and paper newsletter with my Secret Coach Club. I drew inspiration from the greats like Ben Settle and Doberman Dan who have their own (and that I’ve subscribed to), but I put my own stamp on it.
Secret Coach Club takes inspiration from others, but is different where it’s specifically to help coaches build their businesses.
To steal my method of getting more coaching clients and customers, head over here:
